(LifeSiteNews) — Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz signed a “right” to unlimited abortion into law Tuesday, putting the North Star State on par with the likes of North Korea according to pro-life leaders.
The so-called Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act asserts a woman’s “fundamental right” to “continue the pregnancy and give birth, or obtain an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise this fundamental right,” declares that this “right” is contained in the Minnesota Constitution’s “principles of individual liberty, personal privacy, and equality;” and forbids localities from “regulat[ing] an individual’s ability to freely exercise the fundamental rights set forth in this section in a manner that is more restrictive than that set forth in this section.”
The bill cleared both chambers of the state legislature without proposed Republican amendments to preserve some limits on abortion, and on Tuesday it received Walz’s signature at a ceremony joined by Planned Parenthood North Central States president Sarah Stoesz, Valley News Live reports.
“The message that we’re sending to Minnesota today is very clear, your rights are protected in this state, you have the right to make your own decisions about your health, your family and your life,” Walz told the crowd.
Pro-life activists see a very different message in the new law.
“Let’s be clear: The PRO Act would mean it’s legal for any baby to be aborted, for any reason and at any time up to birth,” said Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life co-executive director Cathy Blaeser. “The absolutist extremism of this bill would put Minnesota in the company of just a handful of countries worldwide, among them China and North Korea. Mothers and babies deserve a far more humane and compassionate approach.”
Under the law, “a school counselor can take a student to an abortion clinic without their parents’ knowledge,” warns Tim Miller, executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries Action. “An unborn child can be murdered up to one second before they leave their mother’s birth canal. There will be no requirement for an abortion to take place in a clinic setting and a doctor is no longer needed.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last summer sent pro-abortion activists into a flurry of activity to preserve abortion “access.” In blue states, Democrats have moved to strengthen the pro-abortion status quo, keeping abortion as widely available as possible while potentially attracting travel from abortion seekers in neighboring pro-life states.